I’m a smoker, I’m easily bored and I’m not exactly what you’d describe as sporty. But, like so many people, I need exercise to stay sane, so a couple times a week I drag myself out for half an hour of running around North London.

But it’s not just the ache in my legs or the heaviness in my feet that makes this whole process such a chore. It’s also the sense of fear.

Fear of being shouted at by random men. Fear of being stopped by someone. Fear that with headphones in, running in the darkness, you’ll end up in a situation you can’t get out of.

If you’re a bloke then I imagine you probably don’t get scared when you go out for a run. You might prickle if you saw someone following you, but you’ve got nothing on you worth nicking so you’re unlikely to get mugged.

Running in New York (Picture: Getty)

It’s not like that as a woman. Wherever you go as a woman, whatever you do, you’ve always got something worth taking.

According to research from This Girl Can, a third of women have experienced sexual harassment whilst out running alone.

The first time I was harassed whilst running I was mostly just confused. A man shouted ‘nice tits’ from his stationary car as I ran past. They didn’t look nice. They were strapped to my chest and encased in Lycra. They looked like one solid unit.

But of course he wasn’t saying that because he wanted to see my tits, or speak to me, or even have sex with me. He was just letting me know that I shouldn’t feel safe or at ease. That the street I was running down wasn’t my own. That my body was decorative and there for him to comment on.

Park running (Picture: Getty)

Another time, months later, I realised a man – not wearing running kit – was running behind me. I’d had my headphones in so I didn’t hear him until he was right behind me. When I turned around and asked him what he thought he was doing he laughed. Told me to chill out.

Maybe these things sound minor now, but it contributes to a culture of fear, a culture of fear that deprives women of a pretty simple experience. Running outdoors. According to research published in The Tab, an incredible 24% of women say that fear is the reason that they don’t exercise outdoors.

That’s almost a quarter of women. A quarter of women are afraid to run outdoors after dark because of what might happen to them. So perhaps shouting ‘nice tits’ seems trivial, perhaps running behind someone seems funny. But it’s time that the men who intimidate women who are just trying run understand that their actions don’t exist in a vacuum.

We are frightened, and it’s affecting how we live our lives, and that has got to change.